My Favorite Frozen Aldi Seafood Makes A Quick And Easy Dinner

I'm a long-time Aldi fan, and I frequently shop there for bargain-priced basics like produce, meat, and cheese, as well as whatever fun new finds have popped up since my last trip. Among my go-to items are several types of seafood –- the salmon filets can be used in so many different ways (here are five of them), while the smoked salmon makes a tasty two-ingredient dip (although I mostly just eat it on its own). My favorite, however, is one of the best affordable seafoods that also tastes delicious: mussels. To be more specific, the Specially Selected Mussels in Tomato Garlic Sauce. These come in a 1-pound package priced around three bucks, and they're the basis for a super-simple dinner I like to make every so often.

I heat them in the microwave, then toss the mussels and sauce into some precooked pasta. I may add a bit of marinara, too, since I like my pasta saucy, or I may dump the frozen mussels, sauce and all, into a pot of marinara if I've got one in the making. (While I embrace many convenience foods, I don't do jarred spaghetti sauce lest I be haunted by my Great Aunt Rosie.) The mussels go in right at the end, though, since they're already precooked, so they just need to thaw out a bit and melt the sauce they're packed in.

Aldi also offers two other flavors of Specially Selected frozen mussels, one in a garlic butter sauce and the other au naturel. Both packages are the same size and price as the tomato-garlic ones. I usually cook the Specially Selected Mussels in Garlic Butter Sauce the same way I do the tomato-garlic variety, just tossing them with pasta and parmesan. I don't add them to marinara, however, as the butter might make it weird. (Aunt Rosie definitely wouldn't approve.)

The Specially Selected Mussels in Natural Juices, however, are far more versatile. I can plug them into just about any of my favorite mussel recipes, as long as I add them at the end. Among the things I've done with them is to combine them with chorizo and sautéed onions in a beer broth and heat them in a pan sauce made from white wine, butter, and blue cheese. My absolute favorite way to use Aldi's plain mussels, though, is to eat them in a spicy Thai-style coconut sauce flavored with chiles, fish sauce, lemongrass, and lime juice.

While I love them all, the tomato-garlic mussels remain at the top of my list. The garlic-butter ones make a nice change, but they're not quite as tasty, while the unsauced mussels are something I use in more labor-intensive recipes. For both flavor and convenience, it's tomato-garlic for the win.